Snapshot view of .xls files in perhaps File Manager

J

jimsunz

I have created many excel files over the years. I wish to review all
these, but I cannot remember what the content is from just the file
names on many of them.
Is there a way of seeing just say 'the top of each spreadsheet'
without having to open and close each file?

I seem to remember somewhere, it may not be Excel, where you could
just click on a file name to see just a brief view of the file.

I am just trying to work out a quick way of going through all my
files, and deleting unwanted files.

Many thanks to all you very helpful people out there. Jim.
 
J

JulieD

Hi Jim

you can do this with excel IF you have saved a preview picture of each file
when you created it (file / properties - tick save preview picture) .. these
can be seen when you do file / open and change the view type in this window
to preview.

i also remember something in explorer called quick view (i think) where you
could view a bit of the file without opening but i can't find anything on it
in help ... might be worth an internet search.

Cheers
JulieD
 
D

Dave Peterson

You can toggle an option under File|properties|summary tab

Look for "save preview picture" at the bottom.

Then when you do a file|open, you can toggle that view to show preview.

(Win98 doesn't support previews in windows explorer--I don't know if winXP
does.)

This is something that you have to save for each workbook.

But you can make it the default for new workbooks (not existing) by:

Start a new workbook.
put in all the settings you like (including preview picture--and
headers/footers/etc)

Then save this as Book.xlt in your XLStart folder. Then every workbook that is
based on this template will inherit its settings.

Not applicable, but still useful:

You can set up another workbook named Sheet.xlt (also in XLStart). A worksheet
added to any existing workbook will inherit its settings.
 
J

JulieD

Hi Jim

http://www.avantstar.com
produce a product called Quick View Plus which allows you to look at the
workbook from explorer without opening .. you can download a trial version
to see if it is what you're after.

Regards
JulieD
 
M

Max

Dave Peterson said:
(Win98 doesn't support previews in windows explorer
--I don't know if winXP does.)
Click to expand...

Think it does, Dave !
Could see the preview under View > Thumbnails
 
D

Dave Peterson

Thanks for the info.

I've heard of the thumbnails in winXP, but thought they applied to picture files
only.

I'll remember that when I get that new pc <vbg>.
 
D

David

Max wrote
Think it does, Dave !
Could see the preview under View > Thumbnails
Click to expand...

And when I choose File > Open > Views > Preview I get 'Preview not
available.' for each file I click :(
 
D

David

David wrote
Max wrote


And when I choose File > Open > Views > Preview I get 'Preview not
available.' for each file I click :(
Click to expand...

Oops. Seems you have to view Properties of the file once open and check
'Save preview picture' in Summary tab. Noted this bloats the file, so I'll
live without this feature.
 
M

Max

David said:
Oops. Seems you have to view Properties of the file once open and check
'Save preview picture' in Summary tab.
Click to expand...

Yup said:
Noted this bloats the file, so I'll live without this feature.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity .. light testing done on a couple of excel files of various
sizes revealed that the bloat from activating 'Save preview picture' in the
Summary tab wasn't significant: the feature added only about 25K to 30K to
the original file size (so it may be quite ok, not exceedingly restrictive)
 
D

David

Max wrote
Yup, that's what Dave P. said <g>
Click to expand...

Sorry, jumped in late here, being curious, and missed that.
Out of curiosity .. light testing done on a couple of excel files of
various sizes revealed that the bloat from activating 'Save preview
picture' in the Summary tab wasn't significant: the feature added only
about 25K to 30K to the original file size (so it may be quite ok, not
exceedingly restrictive)
Click to expand...

Agree on file size increase, but since most of my files are < 100K,
that's significant to me since I want to keep the approx 25 files I
carry from work to home on a single floppy.
 
M

Max

David said:
Agree on file size increase, but since most of my files are < 100K,
that's significant to me since I want to keep the approx 25 files I
carry from work to home on a single floppy
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. Agree that it would be significant in this case <g>
(guess you're already zipping the 25+ files to fit into the floppy)
 
D

Dave Peterson

First, make sure you only use your floppy for transportation.

Copy the files to your harddrive (or network drive) and work on those
copies--lots of things can go wrong if you work directly off floppies.

And you may want to invest a little money in one of those thumb drive
thingies--if you have USB ports at both pcs.

You can get 128 meg version for less than $20 (USA). And I just saw the 256 meg
version for $35 (IIRC) in the Sunday ads.

I used to use floppies, too. But these things seem less susceptible to
corruption.
 
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